Chapter 286: Chapter 286

SCORE: GODS — 57 | RAPTORS — 26

Second Quarter — 4:42 Remaining

The sound in the arena

It was fear holding its breath.

Lines on the court curved inward as if reality itself wanted to bow.

The light fixtures above flickered no storm, just presence.

Each step felt like gravity choosing a new direction.

The rim bent slightly, metal trembling under unseen weight.

Commentators tried to speak, words coming out broken, shredded by awe.

"L-Ladies and gentlemen uh what we’re seeing is..."

"I—no, that’s not, he’s not using aura, right?"

"The floor’s bending, look at the angles! It’s bending!"

Their voices collapsed under the roar of vibration.

On the Raptors’ side, air pressure changed.

Jalen’s fingers twitched.

He tried to push himself up from the floor.

But the court pressed down on him.

It was as if something enormous was sitting on his back.

Sweat dripped from his forehead to the floorboards, forming trembling ripples.

His breath hitched, voice strangled.

"Why... can’t I... move?"

Tyrese tried to step forward, his knees almost buckled.

Zion’s eyes flickered with disbelief.

"That’s not aura... it’s command."

Malik swallowed hard.

"No... that’s reality weight."

Coach Jenkins stared without blinking.

The clipboard in his hand trembled slightly.

"...He’s not walking."

"...He’s deciding where the court exists."

Bleachers — Vorpal Watching

Louie’s jaw fell open.

"What the hell kind of... king power is that?"

Lucas’ eyes shimmered with analysis and dread.

"It’s not strength. It’s distortion. His steps overwrite the world’s physics."

Ethan leaned forward, every nerve on edge.

His pupils reflected Zeus’ slow, casual movement across the court.

"...He’s bending the rules themselves."

"...Not playing basketball—he’s defining it."

Zeus reached midcourt.

His shadow stretched in unnatural angles, covering both halves of the game.

The scoreboard flickered

Numbers glitched for a brief second.

GODS — 59 | RAPTORS — 26

No one saw who scored.

No one saw the ball move.

Hades was suddenly standing under the rim, his hand dripping with energy from a phantom dunk.

"He’s walking seriously."

The crowd roared, confused and terrified all at once.

Phones recording the game began lagging, the footage skipping frames.

Even the cameras couldn’t keep up.

Jalen forced a grunt, blood rising in his throat.

He tried to lift himself again

Every neuron screamed.

He bit his lip. Blood.

Zeus’ eyes flickered toward him calm, almost pitying.

"Then stand... if your will can exist inside my world."

He said it like a test.

Like a king humoring a peasant trying to raise a sword.

"Is this even basketball anymore?!"

"What’s happening to space, why’s it bending like that?"

"They’re gods! Literal gods!"

Some fans were clutching their heads, others screaming in awe.

The energy in the air was electric, almost toxic.

The Kings had arrived.

Ryan Taylor muttered under his breath.

"If Jalen can’t move under that... how do we fight it?"

His hand trembled against his knee.

"...We don’t fight it."

"Yeah. Because kings can be dethroned too."

Ayumi’s eyes glistened as she clutched her notebook.

"Please... don’t lose your light, Jalen."

Sweat dripping like rain.

Hands behind his back.

Expression... serene.

GODS — 61 | RAPTORS — 26

The scoreboard burned on the screen.

A single line of sweat rolled off Jalen’s chin, splashing on the court that refused to accept him.

And yet—his eyes lifted.

A faint, exhausted grin.

"If this... is your throne..."

"...then I’ll die trying to touch it."

Zeus tilted his head slightly, golden irises burning faintly.

"Then rise, Flash Carter. Show me what a mortal flame can reach."

The storm wasn’t over.

SCORE: GODS — 61 | RAPTORS — 26

Second Quarter — 2:14 Remaining

The world... wavered.

Not the air, not the lights—

The lines of the court bent like ribbons underwater.

The rim’s shadow stretched and coiled in ways that didn’t make sense.

Even the audience rows and rows of faces seemed to flicker between moments, like time couldn’t decide what frame to stay on.

And in the center of it—

Zeus stood perfectly still.

His eyes glowed faint gold.

A pulse radiated from his chest.

Lucas’ breathing slowed.

He knew what he was seeing.

He’d read about powers, seen miracles through mimicry.

But this, this was on another scale.

"He’s rewriting every second... as it happens."

Ethan’s eyes narrowed.

Sweat glistened against his temple, even though he wasn’t on the court.

"Every step he takes... becomes law."

Ryan exhaled shakily.

"So basically, he’s god right now."

Ethan shook his head.

His voice was low, but sharp.

"Not god. Just a king who forgot where the ground came from."

Lucas’s lips twitched.

"...And kings fall hardest when they meet reality."

Raptors Timeout Huddle

The Raptors gathered around Coach Jenkins.

Their eyes darted to the scoreboard—

GODS — 61 | RAPTORS — 26.

Kobe’s massive hands were trembling.

Zion’s mind usually a storm of plans was blank.

Tyrese had gone pale.

Coach Jenkins slammed his marker on the whiteboard, cracking it slightly.

His voice carried over the pounding arena.

But the tone brought them back.

"I DON’T CARE what that man bends!"

"He can twist the air, fold the light, make you see ghosts—"

"But he can’t bend your heart unless you let him."

The silence that followed was heavy... until Malik exhaled through his nose, a small smile returning.

"Heh. Never thought I’d need a pep talk in a black hole."

Tyrese chuckled weakly.

Zion’s focus flickered back, eyes sharpening.

Jalen was still hunched over, sweat dripping.

His shoulders rose and fell like a piston.

Coach Jenkins leaned closer.

"You don’t have to beat him, Carter."

"Just make him remember he’s playing basketball." Thᴇ link to the origɪn of this information rᴇsts ɪn novel{f}ire.net

"The Raptors regrouping here after a brutal sequence!"

"Zeus’s aura has reached levels we’ve never documented, our monitors can’t even track it anymore!"

"But look, Carter’s standing up again! The kid refuses to quit!"

The commentators’ voices cracked, torn between disbelief and reverence.

Every step hurt like dragging through concrete.

The air around him shimmered, his own aura flaring—a mix of crimson and gold.

The ball floated slightly from his fingertips as his eyes turned electric white.

Reality twisted again but this time, from him.

His own domain colliding with Zeus’s.

The arena lights flared.

Half of the scoreboard blinked out.

For a moment, everyone saw two worlds overlapping

one golden, one burning red.

His expression—unchanged.

He simply raised a hand, eyes glowing brighter.

Jalen dashed vanished reappeared behind Poseidon, dribbling at an impossible tempo.

THUD. THUD. THUDTHUDTHUD—

Each bounce echoed twice, as if reality was catching up.

He cut past Hades, light streaking behind him.

He rose for the layup

straight into Zeus’s gaze.

The world itself bent sideways, swallowing the shot.

The ball snapped to Zeus’s palm midair.

GODS — 63 | RAPTORS — 26

Jalen hit the floor hard.

His body twitched from backlash, but his eyes never lost their focus.

Zeus looked down, silent, almost regretful.

"Burn brighter if you wish... it won’t change the sun."

But Jalen grinned through blood on his lip.

"Then I’ll make the sun explode."

Lucas’s pupils expanded, analyzing every frame.

"He’s not losing ground. He’s learning his rhythm mid-defeat."

Ethan’s fingers curled into his palm.

"...He’s defying reality’s pressure by adapting in it."

"That’s some Flash mindset right there."

Louie shouted over the noise.

"COME ON, FLASH! SHOW HIM WHY EARTH BLEEDS RED!"

Ayumi covered her mouth, trembling between terror and awe.

"...He’s fighting someone who can delete effort itself."

Ethan’s voice cut through.

"And that’s why it matters."

Zeus stopped walking.

The golden light around him shimmered like broken glass.

He looked down at his hand.

For the first time in years—

there was a crack in his aura.

A fragment of red, like flame burned its way into the gold.

Zeus’s eyes narrowed faintly.

"...So you truly are light."

Jalen wiped his mouth, panting, chest heaving.

"Just a man who refuses to bow."

SCORE: GODS — 63 | RAPTORS — 29

The crowd went wild half in disbelief, half in sheer relief that someone scored again.

Even the Gods glanced at each other Ares’ smirk widened, Poseidon’s calm cracked.

Hades chuckled under his breath.

"Heh... kid’s not done yet."

Zeus’s eyes glowed faintly brighter.

A whisper escaped him, cold and absolute.

"Then I’ll raise it to sixty."

The lights flickered.

Cameras went black for half a second.

Lucas’ hand clenched the railing.

"...He’s going past his limit."

Ethan’s eyes sharpened like knives.

His system flickered faintly across his vision.

[Warning: 61% Output.]

He whispered to himself, voice steady but cold.

"...Then it’s starting."

"...The era where mortals fight the heavenly talented called The Gods."